A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

DIONYSIUS.
Dionysius of Mytilene. Suidas ascribes to the Milesian, "Troica," in three books, "Mythica," an " Historical Cycle," in seven books, and a " Periegesis
of the whole world," all of which, however, probably belong to different authors. (Nitzsch, Hist.
Homeri, i. p. 88; Bernhardy, in his edition of
Dionys. Perieg. p. 498, &c., and ad Suidam, i.
p.1395; Lobeck,Aglaoph. ii. p. 990,&c.; Welcker,
Der Epische Cycl&s, p. 75, &c.)
33. Of MILETUS, a sophist of the time of the
emperor Hadrian. He was a pupil of Isaeus the
Assyrian, and distinguished for the elegance of
his orations. He was greatly honoured by the
cities of Asia, and more especially by the emperor Hadrian, who made him praefect of a considerable province, raised him to the rank of a
Roman eques, and assigned to him a place in the
museum of Alexandria. Notwithstanding these
distinctions, Dionysius remained a modest and unassuming person. At one time of his life lie
taught rhetoric at Lesbos, but he died at Ephesus
at an advanced age, and was buried in the marketplace of Ephesus, where a monument was erected
to him. Philostratus has preserved a few specimens of his oratory. (Vit. So3ph. i. 20. ~ 2,
c. 22; Dion Cass. Ixix. 3; Eudoc. p. 130; Suidas.)
34. Of MYTILENE, was surnamed Scytobrachion, and seems to have lived shortly before the
time of Cicero, if we may believe the report that
he instructed M. Antonius Gnipho at Alexandria
(Suet. de Illustr. Gram. 7), for Suetonius expresses
a doubt as to its correctness for chronological
reasons. Artemon (ap. Athen. xii. p. 415) states,
that Dionysius Scytobrachion was the author of
the historical work which was commonly attributed to the ancient historian Xanthus of Lydia,
who lived about B. c. 480. From this it has been
inferred, that our Dionysius must have lived at a
much earlier time. But if we conceive that Dionysius may have made a revision of the work of
Xanthus, it does not follow that he must needs
have lived very near the age of Xanthus. Suidas
attributes to him a metrical work, the expedition
of Dionysus and Athena (r Alovvcrov Kal 'A6Wvras
orrpaTia), and a prose work on the Argonauts in
six books, addressed to Parmenon. He was probably also the author of the historic Cycle,
which Suidas attributes to Dionysius of Miletus.
The Argonautica is often referred to by the
Scholiast on Apollonius Rhodius, who likewise
several times confounds the Mytilenean with the
Milesian (i. 1298, ii. 207, 1144, iii. 200, 242,
iv. 119, 223, 228, 1153), and this work was also
consulted by Diodorus Siculus. (iii. 52, 66.) See
Bernhardy, ad Dionys. Perieg. p. 490; Welcker,
Der Ep. Cyclus, p. 87.
35. A writer on doiap'r'rntcd, who is mentioned by Athenaeus (vii. p. 326, xi. p. 516).
36. Of PERGAMUS, surnamed Atticus, a rhetorician, who is characterized by Strabo (xiii. p.625)
as a clever sophist, an historian, and logographer,
that is, a writer of orations. He was a pupil of
Apollodorus, the rhetorician, who is mentioned
among the teachers of Augustus. (Comp. Senec.
Controv. i. 1.) Weiske (ad Longin. p. 218) considers him to be the author of the work r.Epl VSQovs
commonly attributed to Longinus; but there is
very little, if anything, to support this view.
(Westermann, Gesch. d. Griech. Beredis. ~ 98,
note 9.)
37. Of PHASELIS, is mentioned in the scholia on

DIONYSIUS. 1043
Pindar, and was probably a grammarian who wrote
on Pindar. The anonymous author of the life of
Nicander speaks of two works of his, viz. "on the
Poetry of Antimachus," and " on Poets." (Schol.
ad Pind. Nem. xi. p. 787, ed. Heyne; ad Pyth.
ii. 1.)
38. Surnamed PERIEGETES, from his being the
author of a reptiyrrs rj 7ey^, in hexameter
verse, which is still extant. Respecting the age
and country of this Dionysius the most different
opinions have been entertained, though all critics
are agreed in placing him after the Christian era,
or in the time of the Roman emperors, as must
indeed be necessarily inferred from passages of
the Periegesis itself, such as v. 355, where the
author speaks of his dvaic'rs, that is, his sovereigns,
which can only apply to the emperors. But the
question as to which emperor or emperors Dionysius there alludes, has been answered in the most
different ways: some writers have placed Dionysius in the reign of Augustus, others in that of
Nero, and others again under M. Aurelius and
L. Verus, or under Septimius Severus and his sons.
Eustathius, his commentator, was himself in doubt
about the age of his author. But these uncertainties have been removed by Bernhardy, the last
editor of Dionysius, who has made it highly probable, partly from the names of countries and nations mentioned in the Periegesis, partly from the
mention of the Huns in v. 730, and partly from
the general character of the poem, that its author
must have lived either in the latter part of the
third, or in the beginning of the fourth, century of
our era. With regard to his native country, Suidas infers from the enthusiastic manner in which
Dionysius speaks of the river Rhebas (793, &c.),
that he was born at Byzantium, or somewhere in
its neighbourhood; but Eustathius (ad v. 7) and
the Scholiast (ad v. 8) expressly call him an African, and these authorities certainly seem to deserve
more credit than the mere inference of Suidas.
The Periegesis of Dionysius contains a description
of the whole earth, so far as it was known in his
time, in hexameter verse, and the author appears
chiefly to follow the views of Eratosthenes. It is
written in a terse and neat style, and enjoyed a
high degree of popularity in ancient times, as we
may infer from the fact, that two translations or
paraphrases of it were made by Romans, one by
Rufus Festus Avienus [AVIENUS], and the other
by the grammarian Priscian. [PRISCIANUS.] Eustathius wrote a very valuable commentary upon
it, which is still extant, and we further possess a
Greek paraphrase and scholia. The first edition
of the Periegesis appeared at Ferrara, 1512, 4to,
with a Latin translation. A. Manutius printed it
at Venice, 1513, 8vo., together with Pindar, Callimachus, and Lycophron. H. Stephens incorporated it in his " Poetae Principes Heroici Carminis,"
Paris, 1566, fol. One of the most useful among
the subsequent editions is that of Edw. Thwaites,
Oxford, 1697, 8vo., with the commentary of Eustathius, the Greek scholia and paraphrase. It is
also printed in the fourth volume of Hudson's
Geogr. Minor. 1712, 8vo., from which it was reprinted separately, Oxford, 1710 and 1717, 8vo.
But all the previous editions are superseded by
that of G. Bernhardy (Leipzig, 1828, 8vo.), which
forms vol. i. of a contemplated collection of the
minor Greek geographers; it is accompanied by a
very excellent and learned dissertation and the
3 x 2